Central Mass. coffee house opens new location — with new drive-thru
Whenever a customer pulls up to the drive-thru at the Mini Sturbridge Coffee House , owner Pia Dowd always gets excited.
The cafe, located at 195 Charlton St. in Sturbridge, officially opened on April 14 and is the second Sturbridge Coffee house opened by Dowd. The original Sturbridge Coffee House at 407B Main St. is still open and has been serving customers for 18 years.
Every time she hears the beeping sound signifying that someone is at the drive-thru, Dowd is thrilled.
"I'm like, 'Eeek! Someone's at the the drive-thru,'" Dowd said. "It's really exciting."
Dowd told MassLive that she always wanted a drive-thru for her business, noting that other coffee shops have drive-thrus of their own.
At the original Sturbridge Coffee House, customers come into the building and sit down for coffee. Dowd said that business at her main coffee house has been going well but she also wanted to do something different.
"I wanted something else," Dowd said. "I didn't want another place where you would come in and sit for hours."
An opportunity arose when a new gas station, Noble Gas Station, opened in March 2024. The gas station is located in the eastern part of the town, while the main location is located in the west.
"One of my managers wrote to one of the owners and within a couple of days, we got our answer and we were getting ready to sign a lease," Dowd said.
So far, most of the promotions for the coffee shop have been done online. Dowd says there is no signage advertising the coffee shop yet but so far, the business has managed to do well for its first five days.
"It's actually working out," Dowd said. "The internet has been carrying us very well."
The original Sturbridge Coffee House was opened in 2007, according to Dowd. The cafe was inspired by her mother, who used to work at Red Barn Coffee Roasters in Upton. One time, when she was visiting her mother, Dowd noticed that people were standing in the rain just to have a cup of coffee.
"I go, 'Mom, there's people outside standing in line for coffee,'" said Dowd. "She goes, 'people love it' and I was like, 'this is amazing.'"
Inspired by her mother, Dowd opened Sturbridge Coffee House. The cafe's coffee comes from three distributors: Saccuzzo Coffee from Newington, Connecticut, the Massachusetts-based Brilla Coffee and Red Barn Coffee Roasters—the same distributor her mother worked for.
Aside from hot and iced coffee, both cafes serve lattes, espressos, tea and smoothies, according to the cafe's menu .
Both locations also offer food, although the Mini Sturbridge Coffee House's menu is more limited. All the food is made from scratch by her professional chef, Dowd told MassLive. Offerings include açai bowls, breakfast sandwiches and lunch items such as BLTs and burgers, according to the menu.
"We have the coffee, we have the espresso but it's everything else we have," she said. "We do taco Tuesday. We sell hundreds of them and they are all made from scratch."
Dowd notes, however, that the price of her coffee is likely to increase. She learned from Red Barn that the price of coffee has gone up 117% in the last year. As a result, Dowd said she would have to raise prices by a few cents. Still, this does not mean she is closing her business.
"I can't close my business because that happened," she said. "We thrive on it and we just have to go forward."
The current hours for the Mini Sturbridge Coffee House are 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to its website. Once the cafe is fully staffed, hours will be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The store is open seven days a week, according to Dowd.
